Film-treating apparatus



July 31, 192s.

' G.l POURFILLET ET AL FILM TREATING APPARATUS 3 Sh'ets'-xeet l 1 VENTORS.

a?! ATTRNEYS.

Filed May 25, 1927 Ju1y,31192s. 1,679,096

- G. POURFILLET ET AL.

FILM TREATING APPARATUS Fuedmy. 25.'.'1927 s shuts-Sheet 2 MWA ATTORNEYS.

MNVPNTOR s BY. I fwmg s sheets-sheet 3v July 31, 1928.`

G. POURFILLET El' AL FILM TREATING APPARATUS Filed May 25, 1927 Ell! Patented July 31, 1928.

UNITEDISTATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGES POURFILLET, OF LEONIA,. .AND- IEGISTO GIOVANNONI, OF FORT LEE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO UNIVERSAL PICTURES CORPORATION, OFYNEW YORK, N. Y1,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

FILM-TBEATING APPARATUS.

Application :tiled May 25,

- This invention relates to an improvement in apparatusfor treating films, as, for example, the olryimgiofV `films after the same have passed through a developing machine. However, this invention has other applications in the film industry, and for' this reason it must be clearly understood that its application to a `drying cabinet is for purposes of illustration only and is not in any Way to be interpreted as limiting our invention.

One of the objects of our invention is the provision of a` film treating apparatus, in which means are provided for passing the film through the machine under pro er tension at all times. The advantage o such a construction is obvious "to those skilled inVrh this art, inasmuch as such a machine will impose only the proper tension on the films at all times, irrespective of atmospheric c onditions, temperatures, etc., thereby avoiding breakage of the film due to excess tension, .avoiding as well insufhcient tension on 'the film during its travel through the machine, which insufficient ftension is likely to 1(ause in'urI to the film or many reasons We undeistdod by those familiar with the filmtreating industry. l

In the accompanying drawlngs, wherein we have illustrated one embodiment of our invention,

Fig. 1 shows our improved apparatus in.

.part sectional elevation; v K

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus of Fig. 1' f f Fig.3 is a plan view of the apparatus at the bottom ofl our improved structure;

f Fig. 4 is anend elevation pf the take-up mechanism employed at the end of the ma chine; and p Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the apparatus of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawingsfin detail,` 1

designates in the present embodiment`- of our invention a drying cabinet substantially rectangular in form and provided with sliding glassdoors 2.

AAt the bottom of the cabinet-.we provide,

at 3 for the supplying ofrheated air `to the interior: of the cabinet, this air being sipplied from any. suitable source of supply, While exits 4 are provided for this air at the top of the cabinet. p v Q 4Secured to the rear wall 5 of the cabinet land 2.. Each roller is mounted on a the frame 10, a

1927. serial No. 194,042.`

structure designated 10, this frame structure being generally rectangular in outline, so as the drying cabinet.- The two side members 11 and 12 at the top of the frame structure 10 are provided with a series of transversely extending supporting shafts 13, these shafts being understood, coming from to conform generally to the shape ofv isis4 ioy being supported at each end in'suitabl'e bearings 14 provided in brackets 15, carried by the frame members. '1 Eachy shaft is provided with a plurality of independently rotat-` l able film-receiving and supporting rollers 15, which may be composed of bakelite or other suitable material. These rollers are free on the supporting shafts 13 and endwise movement thereof is revented by' collars 16 secured to the shafts.

Intermediate each pair of adjacent' shafts 13, and hence intermediate adjacent. sets of rollers 15 carried thereby, we provide an idler roller 17, clearly illustrated in Figs. 1

ivoted bracket 18, pivoted at 19 to the top of spring 20 being provided to maintain the roller in proper position on its pivot relatively to the rollers 15, `The provision 'of the bearings 2() permits, of course, the rollers 17 to be moved slightly about the pivots 19 so as to properly control vthe film 9 in itspassage through the machine as will be hereinafter pointed out.

The idler rollers 17 are staggered with respect tocach other as indicated in Fig. 2, for example; from which 4figure it will be while the next idler roller will be located adjacent thetop frame member 12. The purposev of this will be pointed outhereinafter.

At the bottom or adjacent the bottom of the cabinetl, and lying directly beneath the rollers above described, we provide a plurality of transversely extending drive shafts 21, these drive shafts being mounted in suitseen thatone of the idler rollers will be placed adjacent the top frame member 11,'

able bearings provided in the bottom side members 22 andv23 of the frame 10, themember 22 lying directly beneath the top side member 11, while the member 23 lies directly beneath the top side member 12.

One end of each of the drive shafts 21 is provided with a bevel gear 24, each one of these gears meshing with a bevel gear 25 carried by a drive-shaft 26, this latter shaft extending lengthwise of the cabinet. One end of this shaft 26 is suitably geared to a driving motor 27 Each of the shafts 21 is provided with a plurality of rollers 28 which are similar in construction to the rollers 15 at the top of the cabinet, these rollers preferably being mounted on ball-bearings on the Shafts 21. At one end of the shaft 21 adjacent the right-hand end of the cabinet as viewed in Fig. 3, is a driving roller 29, this roller being fixed to the shaft so as to be positively driven thereby. rl`he next shaft 21 is provided with a similar roller 30 fixed to the shaft so as to be positively driven thereby, this roller, however, being vmounted at the end 'of the second drive shaft 21 opposite the end to which the roller 29 is affixed to the first drive shaft 21. This arrangement of driven rollers is continued throughout the 'machine so that we have a plurality of shafts in the bottom of the cabinet, opposite ends of adjacent shafts being provided with a roller rigidly connected' thereto.

The film 9 is threaded through the machine as indicated in Fig. 1, passing over the top of the roller 7 at the outside of the feed end of the cabinet, through the slot 8 in the cabinet over the roller 15 adjacent the top frame member 12 down to the corresponding drive roller 2-9 on the shaft 21 lying directly beneath the roller l15, about this roller and up to the top series of rollers and over the roller 15 adjacent the first mentioned roller 15, and so on until the lm has passed over or about all of the rollers 15 on the first shaft 13, the filmas it passes over the last roller on the shaft 13 and which roller we will designate 31, then being passed over the tension roller 17 from which the film then passes to the roller 15at the extreme end of the shaft 13, after which the vfilm is passed about the rollers 15 and 28 on the second' sha-ft 13 and the second driveshaft 21 in the same manner as explained in connection with the rst of these two shafts in the cabinet.

AlVithin the cabinet and adjacent the discharge end thereof we provide an upright or standard v32 which is rigidly supported in any suitable fashion, this upright being provided with an extension 33 carrying two spaced rollers 34 and 35. Mounted for vertical movement on the standard 32 is a loop roller 36, the guiding means therefor being designated 37. Attached to the guide 37 is a cable 38, this cable lea-ding from the top out of the cabinet through an orifice or slot 40 in the discharge end thereof, passing over a take-'up roller 41 shown in detail in F igs, 4 and' 5 and mounted at the discharge end of the cabinet, the film from thence passing to wind-up reel 42.

The take-up roller 41 is mounted on a drum 43 carried on a shaft 44 mounted in brackets 45 011 the discharge end of the cabinet. The shaft 44 is driven by gears, belt, chain or any other suitable drive, a pulley 46 carried on the shaft being provided for this purpose. The end' of the drum 43 projects slightly beyond one face of the pulley 41. Pivoted to this face of the pulley are two brake-bands 47 pivoted-at 48, each of these brake-bands at the end opposite the pivot 48 being provided with an ear 49. A spring 50 is attached to these ears and' normally draws the brake-bands about the drum 43 soY as to connect the drumv 43 and pulley 41 for drive as a unit. The ends of the brake-bands 47 are constructed so as to provide a space 51 between them, which receives a hooked brake-releasing member 52 pivoted at 53 on the face of the pulley 41. rlhe brake-releasing member 52 is provided with a tail 54 adapted to engage one of the brake-b-ands 47, while the main portion of the member will engage the end of the other brake-band 47, so that movement of the brake-releasing member about its pivot will release the brake-bands 47 from the drum 43, thereby permitting the drum 43 to rotate with the take-up roller 41 remaining stationary. ,L 4

On the inside of the discharge end of the cabinet, or in other convenient location, we provide a mounting 55 in which is pivoted a counter-weight arm 5,6 providedA with a hooked end 57 and with a weight 58 so arranged that the'arm 56 will normally tend to assume the position shown in Fig. 5. The end of the' counter-weight arm 54 opposite the hooked end is provided' with an opening,`

59 throu h which is passed the counterweight ca le 38. This cable at the underside of the counter-weight lever 54 is provided with a button or other form of abutment 60 adapted to en age the under-side of the counter-weight ever to raise this end of this lever. At the other side of the lever 56 the cable is provided with a similar member 61, the operation of this member being to de'- press the end of the counter-weight lever.

When the counter-weight lever 56 is 'elevated under the action of member 60,`the hook 57 thereon will engage the brake-releasing member 52 above` referred to, so as to permit the take-up roller 41 to come to rest, without stopping the drum 43. On the other hand, when the counter-weight lever 56 is depressed into the position shown in Fig. 5, for example, the hook 57 is no longer yin engagement withthe hook 51, and as a consequence the take-up roller pulley 41 will rotate with the drum 43 as a unit.

Lying upon the periphery of the take-up 41 is a pressure spool 62 and the film in its passage toward the wind-up mechanism 42 passes between this spool and the periphery7 of the take-up roller 41; `The spool 62 is mounted on apair of arms 63 pivoted on a stub shaft 64 mounted in a suitable bracket 65 at the front of the cabinet. This shaft 64 is provided with a coil spring 66 so disposed with reference to the arms 63 as to exert te-nsion thereon in a direction t0 press the spool upon the film traveling be` tween` it and the periphery of the take-up 41. The pulley 62 isv also arranged to have a slight pivotal motion with respect to the supporting arms 63, this motion being permitted by the provision of two arms 67, one on each` side of the spool and attached to or receiving the shaft 68, carrying the spool, the rear end of these two arms 67 being provided with a cross member 69 p-ivoted in a corresponding crossmember 70 with 'which the outer ends of the arm 67 are provided.

It will. be seen from the foregoing that if the film 9 is threaded through' the machine in the manner above described, in other words, if the film be passed into the drying cabinet and then over and under the top and bottom rollers respectively of the first series of rollers arranged within the cabinet so that the film is trained substantially helically from end to end of the first pair of shafts 13 and 21 and over the tension roller or tension controlling roller 17, then in the opposite direction helically from end to end of the next pair of shafts 13 and 21 and over the next roller 17,' finally emerging from the cabinet over the take-up roller 41 and to the wind-up reel 42, operation of the motor 27 driving the shaft 26 will effect a travel of the film throu 'h the machine'or cabinet. It is to be un erstood that this drive of the film is independent of the windup reel 42 in that the `film is not drawn through the machine by this reel. The. reel 42 actuall is driven from the shaft 26 by a slip belt 1 so thatas far as the wind-up reel 42 is concerned, should the tension on the film exceed'the tension for which the machine is set, the wind-up reel 42 will slip.

As above pointed out, one of the principal objects of this invention is to automatically regulate the tension on the film so that the film is never under too great a tension, in which event it might be fractured and, on

the other hand, so thatthe fllmis never' under too slight a tension, which might mean that the same would slip off ythe rollers in the drying cabinet. As long as the tension in the film is in accordance with the setting of the machine, the take-up roller 41 and the drum 43 remain locked together by the brake-bands 47. As soon, however, as the loop in the film passing under the roller 36 shortens due to the tension in the film in creasing, in other words, due to the filmfeeding through the machine too slowly, the button or abutment 60 cn the cable 38 will en-v gage the end of the counter-weight lever 56, raising the same'to cause the hook'carried thereby to engage the brake releasing member 52, which, it will be understood, nor'- mallyis running in clockwise direction, as viewed iny Fig. 5. This will release the brakes 47, and the take-up roller 41 will cease rotation so as to preventtoo great a. tension on the'film,the drum 43, however,'continu ing its rotation. The film 9,while it will continue to be fed'forward by the rollers in the cabinet, will not feed to the reelf42, now being held between the pressure lroller 62 and the periphery of the take-up roller l41,

which at this time is stationary. The reel 42, or rather the belt drawing the same.,A will slip to prevent fracture of the film between the end of the cabinet and the reel. The forward movement of the film through the cabinet, therefore, under the-se' conditions, will again lengthen the loop about the roller 36 until the abutment 61 on Ithe cable 38 depresses the counter-weight lever 56 lto release 'the 'brake-releasing member 52. At this time the brake bands 47 will again be applied to the drum 43, so that the drum 43 and takesup roller 41 will again be locked together and the vfilm willjresume its discharge from the cabinet.

made lin the construction above described ywithin the purview of this invention.

What we claim is:

1. Film treating apparatus including mechanism for imparting motion to the film,

. comp-rising a plurality of shafts arranged in pairs the 'shafts of each pair being disposed 1n Superposed relation, idler rollers carried by one shaft of each pair, idler rollers and a driven' roller carried by theother shaft of each pair, the film being trained over all of said rollers substantially helically from end to end of e-ach pair of shafts, a take-up roller.

for receiving the lm as it is discharged from the apparatus, and tension-controlling means intermediate said rollers and the wind-up reel and dependent for operation upon the length of ilm between the rollers adjacent the take-up roller and the take-up roller for controlling the operation of the take-up roller.

2. Film treating apparatus including mechanism for imparting motion to the film, comprising idler rollers and driven rollers over which the ilm is tra-ined, a take-up roller for receiving the hlm as it is discharged from the apparatus, and tensioncontrolling means intermediate the said rollers and said take-up roller, the operation of which is dependent upon the length of lilm between the rollers adjacent the take-up roller and the take-up roller for preventing operation o the take-up roller when the linear movement of the film through the apparatus varies beyond predetermined limits.

3. Film treating apparatus including mechanism for imparting motion to the iilm,l comprising a plurality o? rollers about which the film is trained and caused to advance through the apparatus, a take-up roller, and mechanism intermediate the said rollers and take-up roller for preventing operation of the take-up roller while continuing the ad- Vance of the film through the apparatus, when the tension on the film is varied beyond predetermined limits.

4. Film treating apparatus comprising a plurality of rollers about which the film is trained, means for driving certain of said rollers to advance the film through the apparatus, a take-up roller for receiving the 4film as it is discharged from the apparatus, and means intermediate the wind-up reel and the said rollers for preventing operation of the take-up roller except in predetermined relation to the discharge of film from the apparatus.

5. Film treating apparatus comprising a plurality of rollers about which the film is trained, means for driving certain of said rollers to advance the iilm through the apparatus, a take-up roller at the discharge end of the apparatus over which the film is passed in its discharge, a roller having bodily movement under which the film is trained in its travel to the take-up roller, the bodily movement of said roller being controlled by the film and controlling said takeup roller to regulate the tension on the ilm during its passage through theV apparatus.

6. Film treating apparatus comprising in combination a plurality of rollers about which the iilm is trained, means for driving certain of said rollers to ei'ect an advance of the iilm through the apparatus, a bodily movable roller suspended in a loop in thelm adjacent the discharge end of the apparatus, and a take-up roller the operation of which 1s combination a plurality of rollers about which the film is trained, tension rollersfor maintaining the film in proper contact with said rollers, a roller having bodily movement suspended in a loop in the film adjacent the discharge end of the apparatus, a take-up roller cooperating with said suspended roller and controlling the rate of' discharge of the film from the apparatus, movement of the suspended roller automatically varying with variations in speed of travel through the apparatus, and the take-up roller automatically controlling the discharge of the film from the apparatus.

8. Film treating apparatus comprising in combination a plurality of shafts arranged in the same horizontal plane, idler rollers carried thereby, a plurality of driven shafts disposed in vertical alignment with respect to said first mentioned shafts, idler rollers on said driven shafts, a driven-roller secured to each of said vdriven shafts, said driven rollers being arranged in staggered relation to each other, tension rollers arranged in staggered relation to each other and interposed between adjacent sets of the first-mentioned idler rollers, the filmbeing trained about all of said rollers to effect an advance of the film through the apparatus, a bodily .movable roller adjacent the discharge end of the apparatus suspended in a oop of the iilm, and a take-up roller thev l operation of which is dependent upon the length of said lm loop, -for controlling the discharge of the lm from the apparatus.

9. Take-up mechanism for ilm-treatingjapparatus,l comprising 'a driven drum, a take-up roller over which the film is caused to travel freely mounted on said drum, and brake mechanism controllable by the film for uniting the drum and take-up roller for drive as a unit.

10. Take-up mechanism for ilmtreating apparatus, comprising. a constantly rotating drum, an intermittently operable take-up roller mounted thereon, and means controlled by the lilm being treated for eifecting a union of said drum and take-up roller.

1l. Take-up lmechanism for film-treating apparatus, comprising in combination a positively driven constantly rotating drum, an intermittently operable take-up roller freely mounted thereon, brake mechanism carried by the take-up roller for uniting the roller and drum, land a bodily movable roller controlled by the lilm being treatedl 12. Take-up mechanism 'for film-treating apparatus, comprising in combination a.

take-up roller over which the film is trained, apparatus, comprising in combination a. a. presser roller pivotally mounted and codrum, a take-up roller freely mounted there- 25 e operating with the film-and take-up roller, on, mechanism for eecting a predetermined a drum on which the take-up roller is freely union of said drum and take-up roller, and a 5 mounted, a bodil movable roller suspended counterweight film-controlled lever for efin a loop in the lm in advance of the takefeoting operation of the mechanism fo'r unit-v up roller, the position of said bodily moving the take-up roller and drum. 30 able roller being dependent upon the length f 15., Take-up mechanism for film-treating of the'lm loop, and mechanism controlled apparatus, comprising in combination a 10 by the position of llsaid bodily movable drum,.a take-up roller freely mounted thereroller for effecting a union between the take-` on, brake mechanism, ilm controlled', for up roller and drum. t eecting a lunion of said drum and take-up 35 13. Take-up mechanism for lilm treating lroller, a presser roller for effecting pressure v apparatus comprising in combination an .inupon a film passing in contact with the pe- 15 termittently operable take-up roller, a-conrphery ofsaid take-up roller, said presser tinuous rotatable drum, brake mechanism roller being spring-pressed into engagement for uniting the roller and drum, and brake with ythe film and being mounted to have 40 releasing mechanism for releasin said brake movement about an axis at right angles to to permlt the drum to rotatein ependently the axis of rotation of the take-up roller.

20 of said take-up roller, said brake releasing This s eciication signed this 23rd day of .mechanism being controlled by the lm being May, 192%. w

treated. l GEORGES -POURFILLET 14. Take-up mechanism for ilm-treating EGISTOGIOVANNONI. 

